Bombay High Court grants interim stay on cancellation of Congress leader's caste validity certificate

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted interim stay on the cancellation of the caste validity certificate of Congress leader Rashmi Barve but refused to intervene in the Lok Sabha poll nomination process.

Barve's certificate was cancelled by the Nagpur caste scrutiny committee recently, due to which she could not contest the Lok Sabha polls from Ramtek (SC) seat in the state's Vidarbha region despite her candidature being announced.

In her petition, Barve had called the decision of the caste scrutiny committee and the state social justice department as illegal and politically motivated and had sought a stay so that she would fight the Lok Sabha polls.

The division bench of Justices Avinash Gharote and M S Jawalkar granted interim stay on the caste scrutiny committee Nagpur's decision on cancellation of Barve's caste validity certificate.

The division bench, which issued notices to the state government and other respondents, however, refused to stay the poll nomination process.